If Medvedev is successful, with Obama, in spearheading the birth of a new nuclear reduction treaty, he will solidify his hold on Kremlin power, where former President Vladimir Putin is perpetually looking over the shoulder of his hand-picked successor.

Obama stands to gain a major ally in the foreign policy problems most vexing to his administration, particularly Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea .

Konstantin Kosachyov, the Kremlin-connected head of the parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said the main outcome of the meeting was that it "broke the inertia of thinking that has accumulated on both sides."